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Escoural
Escoural is a Presidential Republic at the southern terminus of Aredia Minor. It is bordered by Gulura and East Suria. Etymology The name Escoural is said to originate with "Escoran," the name of a semi-mythical king who according to ancient pagan Escourese creation myths, was the first human placed upon the earth by the gods. The regional capital following the Arcasan conquest in 411 YE was established at a site called 'Esco.' It can be assumed then that over the centuries, perhaps with Arcasan influence, the seperate names "Escouran" and "Esco" eventually became corrupted together to form the modern name of the country and the region; Escoural. The demonym is Escourese. History Early History to the Arcasan Conquest Agricultural settlement in the region seems to have become the norm around 4000 BE, when the Albor people who are widely believed to be the precursor to the Escourese began habitation of the low-lying coastal region. Knowledge of iron working was gained around 400 BE from Aredia Major and widely proliferated to many facets of society in Escoural, where iron became important not just for weapons but also in art. It was used so extensively for non-military purposes that it has often been theorized that iron held a major religious signifigance to the tribal Escourese. Starting around 100 YE, when Arcas was beginning to make its imperial conquests, the various Escourese tribes (the dozen or so that have been recorded, though more likely existed) developed stone architecture and began building crude towns. Additionally, the various tribal chiefs developed complex courts that have often been compared to medieval courts, earning the pre-conquest Escourese some recognition for their civic accomplishments, despite being a largely illiterate society. Arcasan Conquest and Imperial Rule By 390 YE, Arcas had subdued the Surian kingdoms and was working to crack Gulura and Escoural, the last two regions in Aredia Minor to hold out against them. A certain General Ceneric Wismer is largely credited with these southern campaigns, and he succeded in forcing the Gulurans to bend the knee in 396. His job involved conquest however, not occupation, so after having his armies replenished with reinforcements he set out to conquer Escoural as willed by Krigster Wilem Yndsen II. According to personal letters addressed to his brother fighting in the west, he was greatly displeased with the lack of veterans in his army, many of whom had perished conquering Gulura. Nonetheless, he won a string of victories against the Escourese from 397 to 400, but his army was slowly being whittled down by Escourese hit-and-run tactics. After apparentely being resupplied by sea, he surged forward again and after triumphing at Nescoa in 403, Escoural submitted and became a province of the empire. Despite initial difficulties with guerrilla resistance in the first few decades, Arcasan administration was mostly peaceful. Over the next century, writing was introduced to the populace and advancements in almost every facet of civilization was made. The Escourese became steadfast friends of the empire and many found themselves in high government offices outside the province. Escourese archers were highly valued auxiliary forces, and wine was a major export to the rest of the empire, especially Arcas proper. Within a generation or so of the conquest, the Escourese had adopted many (though not all; some Arcasan gods were redundant in purpose) deities from the Arcasan pantheon, which thoroughly mixed with their own native pantheon; foremost among the native gods was the sealord Ortegal and his consort, Orssa. Later, the Donerist schismatic movement off of mainline Afasten registered deeply in Escoural, which was to later have major implications for the province. By about 900, the empire was beginning to fall into a slow decline, but Escoural had cemented itself as one of the richest provinces of the empire, and one of the most learned and loyal as well. It's somewhat isolated position at the southern extreme of Aredia allowed such prosperity to continue almost unabated even as Arcas' decline began to accelerate and the administration of the empire started to fall apart. Only when the provincial governor, an Escourese man named Diogo used provincial forces to try and carve out a kingdom of his own did the good times come to an end. Imperial forces put down Diogo's rebellion within a decade, but he managed to foment considerable secessionist unrest among the populace, who now grew increasingly wary of the crumbling empire. By 960 the Taichan invasions in Aredia Major had reached such a brutal climax which included genocide that the battered empire had no forces with which to fight Escourese rebels who successfully seized control of the province. Post-Empire and Splinter Kingdoms Imperial administration broke down very quickly after the rebel victory, although many facets of government remained in the various kingdoms that emerged in the aftermath. These kingdoms were mostly left to their own devices for the better part of three centuries, during which time they constantly warred with one another, which had the effect of weakening them for further foriegn domination and causing the formation of regional dialects and customs, which even to this day give each of Escoural's 14 provinces a distinct feel. The Gulurans united for a brief time under the warlord Bittor, who swept into Escoural and conquered the divided kingdoms. By 296, he had consolidated his rule over a realm that encompassed most of present-day Gulura and all of Escoural. Bittor possessed considerable martial skill but was a horrible ruler, imposing needless and uneccesary taxes upon the populace, as well as practically institutionalizing the act of torture, which he used with terrible effect against the Escourese. This so thoroughly turned the Escourese against him that in the year of his death, not only did they cast off the yoke of their northern neighbors, they united around the rebel warrior-monk Gaspar of Oeiras and actually invaded Gulura. Gaspar won a string of victories, but was ultimately unsuccessful in establishing Escourese rule over Gulura. His host returned to an independent Escoural and he was welcomed as a hero, however now that the Escourese were at peace, he had no armies to lead. This would prove his undoing. The various Escourese kings were resentful of his power, and raised most of the Donerist clergy against his fledgling militant branch of the church. In 348, he was murdered by unknown assailants and support for his militant Donerism collapsed. Egged on by the various royal dynasties of Escoural, the clergy painted him as a ruthless murderer and false prophet for centuries, but as information about him has become widely available, he has risen to the foremost national hero of the Escourese people, although the attitude towards him in the Donerist Church is still largely negative because of his position as a schismatic. The conflicts of the 4th century AE, while not exactly relevant to relations today, created an ethnic rivalry between the two peoples, that eventually evolved into a national rivalry when both countries were unified. Escoural and Gulura entered into an exceedingly long period of conflict from this point on, sometimes interspersed with fairly lengthy periods of peace. Unification In the 650s, King Gaspar of Algoz fought a succession war against his cousin Fausto, who was then king of equally large Moita. In this war, Gaspar was victorious, allowing him to claim the throne of Moita. He dethroned his cousin and in an act of mercy that would plague him for the rest of his life, had him exiled. With Algoz and Moita now joined in a union, Gaspar's realm was the most powerful and populous in all of Escoural. However just as he set about making his kingdom prosperous, Fausto gathered a coalition of nearby kings and independent lords who were extremely wary of Gaspar's growing power. In 660 Fausto launched his attack quickly overrunning the northern portions of Moita and defeating Gaspar's marshal in battle. However, the "Falcon King" was not finished. He joined his own smaller army to the remnants of his marshal's host and met Fausto in battle at the River Raigus in central Moita. After his mainly infantry force repelled Fausto's repeated charges with heavy cavalry, inflicting serious losses on the opposing army, Gaspar ordered a general advance across the river while he took his personal guard of heavy cavalry across a ford several kilometers upstream. While the infantry fought on the northern bank of the river Gaspar swept around the battlefield in a wide arc and came upon the enemy camp, which he rushed with his cavalry. He captured Fausto and killed several of the kings that had allied with him. With Fausto's army now leaderless, Gaspar's host won the day and swept their broken enemies from the field. This time, Gaspar made sure to relieve his cousin of his head. Within a year of the Battle of the River Raigus, several of the kings who had once opposed him swore fealty to Gaspar as he launched a renewed campaign against his remaining enemies. The Falcon King would fight at Vouzela, Parchal and Sintra, all three major battles-all three of them further victories for Gaspar. In 667 his first wife died, so Gaspar courted the unmarried Queen Sonia of Vagos, the largest kingdom in Escoural apart from his own. She accepted his marriage proposal and the kingdoms of Vagos and Algoz were joined in a union, a new kingdom ruled by Gaspar which spanned 80% of the area of modern Escoural. Within three years Sonia had provided him with a son, securing the succession of a very large kingdom indeed. Within a decade of his marriage to Sonia the few remaining Escourese petty kings who held tight to their independence pledged fealty to Gaspar. By the time of his death in 687, he had united the once highly divided people of Escoural under his banner. However, within a few years of his son's ascension to the throne, Gulura was tied together into a single state by the great tactician Duke Ekatiz of Gordoa, who then crowned himself King of Gulura. The stage was set for one of the longest national rivalries in history.